


By the book.

by Slant



Series: Bureaucrat effect [4]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-21
Updated: 2013-04-21
Packaged: 2017-12-09 02:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/768878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slant/pseuds/Slant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bureaucratic!Shepard is in no way emotionally conflicted about breaking council orders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By the book.

"Can we be sure that this will make an end of it? No more difficult questions from our newest spectre? Her not running around the terminus systems causing more trouble?" Udina was sounding worried, which Anderson always thought of as a good thing. He decided to be reassuring and factually true, if wildly misleading.

"Shepard's a by-the book soldier*, she has the highest regard for the importance of civilian control of the military." Anderson said, without whining for once.

*The book in question is the "Alliance Officer's Handbook".

The Alliance Officer's Handbook has this to say on the subject of obeying orders: that there is a duty of obedience to your superiors (who your superiors are for purposes of having a duty of obedience to is an immensely complicated subject, called "Verordnung über die Regelung des militärischen Vorgesetztenverhältnisses" or "Vorgesetztenverordnung" for short or "VorgV" for very short). Failure to understand the subtleties of VorgV is the main cause of flunking officer training school. Attempts to pronounce "Vorgesetztenverordnung" under simulated combat conditions is the main cause of training injuries in the Alliance military.

The Alliance Officer's Handbook goes on to say that your superiors have a duty to to explain the purpose of their orders (so that you can carry out the aim is the situation changes) and that orders to perform or aid criminal acts carry no duty of obedience (the people who write military handbooks are acutely aware of the possibility of being sued if their advice leads to someone being prosecuted for war crimes).

Shepard asks for clarification when given orders to cease pursuit of Saren, and does not receive any meaningful answer. Saren is clearly committing war crimes, so the new orders support crimes and have no duty of obedience. She takes the Normandy, and the only bruise on her conscience is the knowledge that a state of defence was not originally intended to result in force projection beyond the Oder–Neisse line, let alone into the Terminus systems.


End file.
